


Five Ways Tony Foster Doesn't Save The Day

by Aderam



Category: Blood-Smoke Series - Tanya Huff
Genre: M/M, Yuletide 2008
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-05-02
Packaged: 2017-12-10 05:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aderam/pseuds/Aderam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Tony gets to be the damsel in distress.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Ways Tony Foster Doesn't Save The Day

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for Watcher for Yuletide 2008 and posted over at [the old Yuletide archive](http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/70/fiveways.html).
> 
> There's also a Podfic available! [Check it out!](http://www.audiofic.jinjurly.com/five-ways-tony-foster-doesnt-save-day)

**1\. Vicki**

The sandwich is big and thick, with bright white bread, and crisp lettuce, and juicy tomatoes. Tony still has dirt under his fingernails despite washing his hands three times in the bathroom before their food arrived. Across from him Vicki looks tired, and her hair is falling out of her pony-tail, but her nails rap solidly against her white ceramic coffee mug, and she's looking at Tony like she can see right through him.

Sometimes Tony thinks that Victory Nelson is far more frightening than anything he's ever encountered before.

Tony tries to ignore her - and his dirty fingernails - and he shoves half of his roast beef sandwich down his throat in one bite.

Outside the diner it's a freezing cold January day, and everyone is complaining about the weather as if the whole city had forgotten that Canadian winters happen every year, even in Toronto. Inside it's warm and the fluorescent lights are bright, and despite the fact that Vicki is not-quite-glaring at him, Tony feels a little better about life.

He's pretty sure it's the cracked red vinyl seats.

"Tony?" Vicki asks. Her voice is firm and it makes Tony stop in mid-chew. He probably looks like an idiot, but that's nothing new. "You don't know anything about my case, do you?"

"I - um -" Tony stutters around his mouthful, but then stops as Vicki's nose wrinkles. Right. Chewing comes before speaking.

Of course Tony knows about the case. He lives on the same streets as the victims. He even knows one of them. He purposefully isn't looking at the smiling photo of a sixteen-year-old Lucas sitting next to Vicki's coffee. Lucas hadn't looked that young in years, but the Metro PD hadn't been able to find any other photographs. So yeah, Tony knows about the case, but Vicki's right, he doesn't know anything about it. Or at least nothing helpful.

Tony slumps in his seat. His mouth is empty now, but he doesn't really have anything to say.

Vicki's face softens. "Tony," she says again but this time she sounds more like his friend than his cop. "If you need anything, you know you can call me."

Tony can't keep her gaze, but he nods into the crumbs of his sandwich.

"I'd better go," Vicki says rummaging around in her purse for a twenty to pay the bill. "Celluci'll go nuts if I'm late again."

She slaps the bill onto the table in a clean patch and quickly gathers up the victim photos.

"Hey Vicki?" Tony says softly and she freezes before getting up. "Tell your partner he'd be way cuter if he were less pissy."

Vicki smiles, a quick flash of bright white teeth that warms Tony right through, and then she pulls on her coat and hoists her purse up onto her arm.

"Somehow Tony, I don't think he'd take that very well coming from me," she replies, and she pats him on the shoulder as she walks to the door. "Take care of yourself."

**2\. Henry**

When Henry rises at sunset there are three panicked messages on his answering machine from Tony.

"Come on Henry, pick up! It's gotta be sunset by now. I really need your help. Everything is ruined. Get over here as soon as you can. Please."

Henry doesn't even finish listening to the second message before he's out the door of his condo and behind the wheel of his BMW. He growls as he speeds across town to Tony's new apartment. He hadn't really approved of Tony moving out, but his young friend insisted. Now Henry is regretting his decision.

Luckily Tony's apartment isn't too far away and Henry arrives within ten minutes of getting his message, having only broken a few traffic laws. The sky is still blue around the edges, not yet descended into full darkness. Henry is out of the car, at Tony's door and through it in no time. It's a really good thing it hadn't been locked.

"Henry!" Tony exclaims from the middle of a pile of laundry which has reached massive proportions. He sounds stressed and tired, but not in pain or distressed. Already on high alert, Henry growls anyway and sweeps the small apartment with all of his enhanced vampiric senses. There is an ironing board set up next to Tony, the slight whiff of burnt fabric mingling with burnt pizza from the kitchen - deluxe, rising crust. Tony is wearing black dress pants and a stained blue t-shirt with a huge wet patch on the front.

"Henry?" Tony asks, slightly more cautious now, as if he's taming a wild dog. "Are you okay?"

"Are you?" Henry responds moving vampire-fast to Tony's side and beginning to check him over physically.

"I'm fine," Tony insists, rolling his eyes. "What's gotten into you?"

Henry growls, starting to calm down a bit now that he realizes there's no immediate threat. "I got your message," he says abruptly.

"Oh," Tony says, letting Henry hold onto his shoulders and smell him.

"Why do you need my help?" Henry asks, reassured by Tony's apparent well-being.

Tony looks embarrassed and squirms under Henry's steady gaze. He takes a deep breath and lets it out as quickly as possible. "Tonightistheformal, Iruinedmyshirt, andIdon'tknowhowtotieabowtie."

Henry blinks at him for a second, trying to work out what he's trying to say. His eyes drift over to the ironing board and the slightly crispy, no-longer-white tuxedo shirt, and he can't quite help smiling.

"Yeah, mock my pain," Tony mutters, and Henry chuckles.

"I thought you weren't going to go to this thing," Henry says, regaining his control and walking over to check on the ill-fated shirt. It's got a prominent burn mark in the shape of an iron sitting stereotypically over the left breast, and Tony has ironed the collar backwards.

"I wasn't," Tony replies, throwing his hands in the air. "But somehow Sarah managed to convince me that it would be so much fun. - Is there such a thing as a day-time Vampire? Could she have been working the mojo on me?"

Henry scowls at the idea and shakes his head.

"Anyway," Tony continues, kicking an undeserving pile of (sort of) clean laundry, "she'll be so pissed at me if I don't show up. She'll definitely tell Lacey that I'm straight and just told her I wasn't to get out of dating her..."

"What?" Henry asks, dropping the ruined shirt back onto the ironing board.

"Film school girls are evil," Tony proclaims with heart-felt sincerity.

Henry decides he'd better not get into this debate again. "That shirt is ruined," he informs Tony instead, and starts casting about for anything else in Tony's apartment that is even remotely wearable.

There is very little to work with.

Tony looks defeated.

Henry comes back into his personal space and slips an arm around his waist. "What time are you supposed to be there?" he asks, kissing Tony lightly on the lips.

"Nine," Tony mutters, shoving his face into Henry's shoulder.

Henry checks his watch; the sun has been setting later and later every night. It's already eight fifteen.

"Come on back to my place," Henry insists. "I've got some things that you can wear, and I'll teach you to tie a bowtie."

"But I'll be late?" Henry's not quite sure how that became a question, but he's willing to ignore it.

"No," Henry says firmly, using his Prince of Man voice to full effect. "You'll be fashionable."

**3\. Amy**

"MR. FOSTER!" Peter's voice is angry and precise over the headset about two seconds after Tony has put his on. Both the timing and the distinct lack of other radio chatter are not a good sign. Tony looks down at the radio as if it could tell him how the director knew Tony had arrived. Its blinking red light is less than helpful.

"Yes?" Tony asks a sense of dread preventing him from moving away from Amy's desk just yet. He wants a witness if his life is threatened and he's pretty sure that no one else would stand up for him (Lee won't be in until two).

"Where is my sweater?"

Tony is drawing a complete blank.

"Sweater?" he asks Amy, knowing that she'll hear him despite the fact that she's currently answering a call.

Amy holds up a turquoise coloured nail for him to wait. Tony's pretty sure that he can hear Peter fuming on the other end of the radio even though the line isn't open.

"... Productions. Would you please hold?" Amy doesn't even wait for whoever it is on the other end to answer before she viciously jabs the hold button on her phone and turns to Tony. "Tell Peter that his sweater is here at the desk and clean as a whistle."

Tony quickly relays the message, but he still has no idea what's going on.

Peter's reply of "Good," somehow manages to be both relieved and disappointed that he won't get the chance to kill Tony.

Amy is on the phone again when he turns back to her.

"So what was that about?" He asks wondering if he really wants to know.

Amy puts another person on hold, this time without even waiting for the end of a sentence, and completely ignores the flashing red lights on her phone. "Do you have any recollection of yesterday at all?" she asks, extremely sceptical.

Tony tries to think for a minute and can't quite help reaching his hand up to gingerly touch the small bump on his head. Yesterday was monster day for this week's episode - a little more literally than Tony had hoped. His clearest memories are of demon slime - both real and fake - everywhere (unfortunately including CB's sports car), and Lee cuddling him in the shower afterwards.

"Yes?" he determines, but it comes out as a question anyway.

Amy rolls her eyes more dramatically than Tony thinks is strictly necessary. "That demon of yours..."

"The real one or the fake one?"

"The real one. Can I continue?" Tony nods and looks worriedly at the angry red lights on her phone. Amy ignores him and them. "That demon of yours covered Peter's sweater in slime. And it got my shirt too, so I took them to the dry cleaner last night for you. Be thankful."

"Thank you," Tony says automatically, the question of his possession of the demon notwithstanding. Amy turns back to the phone, tucking an errant strand of plum hair behind her ear. "But why was he so angry?" Tony persists. Peter is notoriously bad to his clothes.

"His mother knit it for him. CB Productions, how may I help you?" Amy's look of disgust was as much of a dismissal as her return to the phone and Tony quickly heads back onto the sound stage. It's barely eight o'clock and already he feels like an idiot, which means that for once things are remarkably normal.

**4\. Mason**

"Urgghgrahunh?" Tony grunts into the phone, face still buried under his pillow. He doesn't remember hearing it ring.

"Good morning to you too," Amy says too cheerfully for whatever hour of the morning it is. Tony isn't willing to move even to check the time.

"H'lo?" Tony manages. There's a low chuckle behind him as Lee wraps an arm around his waist.

"Look," Amy says briskly, totally ignoring Tony's inability to make proper sentences. "I know you just got to bed, but I wanted to call to let you know that you won't have to come in today. Mason and Henry were able to deal with that witch, so..."

"What!?!" Tony sits up abruptly, suddenly awake. His pillow is catapulted across the room, but Lee, more tenacious and already awake, manages to maintain his hold.

"I said, Mason and Henry took care of that witch," Amy repeated, and Tony could hear her rolling her eyes. "You know, the one who's been cursing the set? The one who you've been trying to catch for a week?"

"Yes, but Mason?!"

Lee raises a sceptical eyebrow in question, and Tony flails in a way he hopes means `I'll tell you in a second,' but could be interpreted as anything at his current levels of sleep and caffeine.

"What can I say, he has a winning smile," Amy's voice is the oral equivalent of a shrug. "Anyway, the Final Confrontation was hard on the big guy, so CB's pushing production back a day."

"I'm dreaming. Since when does CB give us the day off?"

"Maybe it was the last act of our witch? Who gives a shit? I've got to drive Henry home before the sun comes up and then I'll call everyone else and let them know. You'll pass on the message to Lee, right?"

Tony freezes, "How do you know I'm with Lee?"

"How much of an idiot are you before you get your coffee?" Amy asks incredulous. "This is Lee's cell. I called yours first, but I think the battery is dead."

Tony pulls the phone away from his head and stares at it. It is indeed Lee's. He looks down at the owner, arms still wrapped awkwardly around Tony's waist, Lee is smiling indulgently.

"Anyway," Amy's voice is small and insistent, and Tony returns the cell to his ear. "The day is yours. Sleep. Be joyous. Don't waste the opportunity. I'll see you tomorrow."

"'Bye Amy," Tony says, but Amy has already hung up.

Tony shrugs and puts the phone back on the bedside table.

"What was that about?" Lee asks, yawning while Tony snuggles back into him.

"Fucked if I know," Tony replies, deciding not to bother retrieving his pillow and stealing part of Lee's instead. "But the witch problem is solved and we have the day off today, so I'm going back to sleep."

"Mmmmm, you need to charge your phone," Lee says contentedly and Tony smiles into the pillow.

**5\. Lee**

The week is not going well. Their latest PA hadn't shown for work on Monday and they'd been running short-staffed since, Amy had a fight with "that useless excuse for an RCMP Officer," who had not taken well to an insult to his professional abilities, and Lee had left for some con somewhere in the middle-of-nowhere, USA at CB's insistence. He'd left on Wednesday afternoon, so Tony hasn't seen him since they went out to dinner on Tuesday. Since then Tony's been dealing with a pissed Amy and a pouting Mason, whom CB hadn't even asked if he wanted to go to the con. Mason hates going anywhere that involves more snow than a weekend snowboarding in Whistler, and would not have enjoyed the trip, but that doesn't stop him from the kind of sulking that results in Tony having to cheer him up and Peter muttering darkly between takes.

Wednesday runs late, and Tony barely has enough energy to fall into bed let alone change out of his clothes before he falls asleep.

On Thursday morning he discovers a flattened bagel in his pocket, which had been hidden from Mason in order to prevent a third re-application of his fangs for the day, and a scandal on the front page of one of the local tabloids. The former he finds first thing when he wakes in a pile of crumbs. The latter he doesn't notice until he arrives at the studio.

There's a bunch of press hanging around the front doors when Tony rolls into the parking lot in Arra's old hatchback, so Tony goes in the back door and checks on the construction for next week's eighteenth century study while he's at it. He quickly drops off his backpack and grabs a radio, checking in with Adam, who is already on set, before going to say good morning to Amy at the front desk.

Amy's head shoots up as Tony pushes open the door of the sound-stage, and he barely has the time to see the crowds of press still gathered outside the glass doors before Amy hustles him back inside.

"Whaa-?" Tony manages. Amy is forcefully pushing him into the racks of costumes in the hallway. He can just make out the sound of her phone ringing before the door swings shut. The gold brocade of a British Naval Lieutenant's uniform is digging into his cheek.

"You were smart enough not to go in the front doors," Amy says forcefully, "don't ruin it by showing them you're here!"

"What are you talking about?" Tony asks, shocked.

Amy looks at him, equally surprised. "Do you ever pay attention to the news?" she asks and holds up a copy of the local celebrity gossip paper. Tony has no idea where she retrieved it from. He usually doesn't bother looking at them, since he knows better stories than their reporters ever get a hold of, but this issue has a large colour picture on the front.

The headline reads: "Darkest Night Star Gay?!" and the picture is of Tony and Lee holding hands as they walked back to Lee's SUV after their Tuesday night dinner. Tony was grinning like an idiot, and Lee, although he managed a considerable amount of grace and dignity when compared with Tony, didn't look much better.

Tony is speechless. And probably doing a very good impression of a fish.

Thankfully, Amy takes pity on him.

"Have you and Lee talked about this?" she asks.

"Lee's in Wisconsin," Tony says, proud that he gets out a full sentence. It even makes sense.

"No, you moron," Amy continues; her sympathy is limited. "Did you guys talk about what you would do when the public found out?"

Tony swallows nervously, but Amy figures out what he means anyway.

"You guys are both idiots," she says, but her voice is soft and she looks like she's about to hug him. Tony still has no idea what to do.

At that instant the door to the sound-stage bursts open and CB starts taking up more room than there is in the narrow hallway.

He turns to Amy and dismisses her with a command, "I think you'll find that your phone is ringing."

Amy's eyes widen, but she delays long enough to give Tony a supportive look before she flees back to the desk.

"Mr. Foster," CB turns his attention onto Tony and Tony has no idea what he's thinking. "It appears that you're going to have to avoid working outside for now. I'll deal with this problem by the end of the day. Now I believe that you have work to do."

"Yes sir," Tony chokes out, and flees back into the sound-stage. Surprisingly, CB's calm and powerful declaration is more comforting than Amy's harsh sympathy, and somehow Tony manages to get through the day without forgetting to breathe, or having a heart attack, or anything drastic like that.

The day itself is reasonably uneventful. Mason spends most of it hiding in his dressing room. It takes Tony twenty minutes every time he has to get him on set, and when he finally manages it he sees a copy of this morning's scandal with "co-star" written angrily in red ink across the headline. Tony hides all of the bagels on set even though Mason isn't wearing the fangs today.

The rest of the crew is remarkably silent on the subject of the latest news. Of course all of them already knew about Tony and Lee's relationship, it was one of those things that was hard to keep a secret, but after Moose glared at the first person to say a word on the subject, no one even mentioned the press. The day is as normal as ever. Except that Tony feels like his life is falling on his head.

By the time Tony leaves, after another late night, the press is gone. Tony has no idea whether they left of their own accord or were sent packing through CB's impressive intimidation, but he doesn't really care either.

There are three phone messages from Lee on his cell when he turns it back on. Tony ignores them and drives out of the parking lot with no real destination in mind. He's working very hard not to react to this morning's news. His mind is a storm of violent blankness.

He's not sure how successful he really is.

After about an hour of aimless driving and two purposefully missed calls, Tony finds himself in front of Henry's apartment building. It's well after dark, so he finds a parking space and uses his spare key to get inside.

Henry's in his study when Tony lets himself in, typing furiously away at his laptop, his expression far too serious for someone who writes romance novels.

"How's the bodice-ripping going?" Tony asks leaning a shoulder into the door frame, and projecting as much normalcy as he can manage.

Henry scowls at him, but it's his amused scowl, the one he brings out when he doesn't want to admit that Tony is funny. "Not so great," he admits, pushing away from his desk and getting up to greet Tony properly. "I'm editing for historical inaccuracy."

Tony smirks and Henry rolls his eyes. Henry's editor had sent his last book back saying that it was "too historically accurate" for his audience. Henry, of course, disagreed, but his editor won this argument anyway, and now Henry had to forget what he knew about the time periods in which he was writing.

"Long day at work?" Henry asks, his eyes darting around to catalogue all the signs of stress Tony has accumulated over the day.

"Yeah," Tony admits, yawning and surprising himself by how tired he really is. "Thought you might want to hang out or something? Or are you too busy?"

Henry shoots a derisive look at his laptop and ushers Tony into the living room instead.

"Making my novel less interesting can wait," he says firmly. "Why don't you tell me about the wonders of straight to syndication?"

Tony yawns again and slumps onto Henry's leather couch. "You know, just the usual," he says sliding further down onto the couch.

Henry raises a suspicious eyebrow, but lets it slide. Instead he settles himself on the other end of the couch and pulls Tony's feet up onto his lap, dropping his shoes haphazardly onto the carpet and starts rubbing at Tony's tense arches.

Henry can feel Tony relaxing under his hands, and watches as his eyes slip shut. Whatever is wrong has taken quite a bit out of the young man and Henry tries to put aside his vampiric urge to protect. Part of Henry really wants to find Lee Nicholas and strangle the kid, since boyfriend-stress is the only kind that Tony doesn't talk to Henry about. But the human part of Henry forces him to admit that Tony would be completely pissed if Henry even tried to interfere.

Tony's cell rings and the young man tenses up again, stuffing a hand in his pocket to silence the ringer without even bothering to take the phone out.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Henry asks carefully.

"It's just Amy," Tony mutters, and Henry can smell the lie. "She's having boy troubles."

Henry stops himself from growling as he watches Tony purposefully try to relax once again.

"That's nice," Tony's eyes are still closed, and Henry can feel the effect of the foot rub warring with whoever was on the other end of that phone call.

Henry continues his soothing motions in silence, right now Tony needs to sleep, so Henry is going to let him rest. He knows exactly who he needs to call once Tony has fallen asleep so that he can figure out what is going on. And even if Tony manages to sleep through the night it will still be dark at six when Tony has to start getting ready for work.

~~~

Amy was of course, still awake when Henry called her. Sometimes he thinks that Amy never sleeps. Their conversation was relatively short, but enlightening. After he finished on the phone with Amy he checks on Tony, still asleep on the couch, his brow furrowed in a frown, and Henry slowly pulls Tony's cell out of his pocket, so that any further calls won't disturb the young man.

Retreating to his study with the phone, Henry uses his laptop to check the article on the internet. Even on the tabloid's webpage, Lee and Tony's relationship is headline news. Henry scans the article, taking note of the reporter's use of "sources at CB Productions" as a reference. He can feel his hackles rise as he mentally catalogues the cast and crew of Darkest Night trying to figure out who would've talked to the press.

Henry has been expecting this ever since Tony and Lee became - whatever it is that they are to one another, but it doesn't stop his protective instincts from coming to the forefront. Henry would like nothing more than to rip out the throat of both the reporter and his source. The only thing stopping him is the knowledge that it wouldn't help anything in the long run.

He doesn't realize that he's growling until the ringer of Tony's cell interrupts him.

Henry checks the caller ID. As expected it's Lee, and Henry growls again. The man had better not be about to hurt Tony.

"Yes?" Henry answers the phone with a snarl.

"Henry?" Lee asks uncertainly from the other end. The reception is less than ideal and there's static laced overtop of his voice, but Henry can hear the tension despite this. "Henry, is Tony there?"

"Yes," Henry replies, making an effort to calm down, "but he's asleep."

"Is he okay?" Lee asks and Henry can feel his anger abruptly flowing out of him. The young man is nervous, but it's not for himself. "He hasn't been answering his phone. Fuck," he exclaims. "This had to happen when I wasn't in Vancouver."

"He's Tony," Henry replies. "He'll be fine as long as you aren't an idiot." Henry allows the threat to show in his voice, and he can hear Lee's breath catch on the other side.

"Okay," Lee says, gathering his thoughts. "Okay. I'm in the airport right now," almost on cue Henry can hear a pre-boarding announcement in the background, "I managed to get a seat on the red-eye to Vancouver. I should be in around five-thirty if the weather holds up. Will he still be at your place?"

Henry thinks about the tension in Tony's shoulders and the urgency in Lee's voice. This kid had better be worth the trouble.

"If he's not I'll leave a message on your cell," Henry says.

Lee lets out the breath he's been holding in relief. "Thanks," he says tiredly.

"Lee Nicholas, you had better not fuck this up," Henry says, his voice descending into Prince of Darkness tones before he hangs up Tony's cell without another word.

Henry spends the rest of the night trying to ignore Tony and Lee's crisis and viciously editing his latest novel with perhaps more force than is strictly necessary.

~~~

When Tony wakes up it's still dark outside, and he's still on Henry's leather couch. There's an odd crick in his neck from sleeping somewhere other than his bed, and he has no idea what time it is. He slowly opens his eyes. In his direct line of sight are a brightly coloured newspaper and a denim-clad knee sitting on the coffee table.

Tony's heart sinks, the events of yesterday coming back in a flash. He closes his eyes again quickly. Tony can't remember the last time that he saw Henry wearing jeans.

"Tony?" Lee says softly. Obviously he wasn't fast enough. Tony scrunches up his eyes and tries in vain to pretend he's still asleep. Yesterday did not happen. Everything is still as normal - right, normal. "Tony, there's something I want you to read." Lee's voice is nervous with anticipation.

Tony pretends even harder. All that's running through his head is a steady stream of "Do Not Want!" And it's vaguely disturbing, even in the middle of everything that's happening, that his psyche can be described by a lolcat.

"Tony?" Lee asks again and something cracks in his voice.

Tony can't help it, he cracks open his eyes and looks at Lee. Lee looks tired, rumpled, and travel-worn in a cute way, and Tony is still kicking himself for his complete lack of self control when he finally focuses on the newspaper Lee is holding up for him to read. It's today's copy of the tabloid which had such shocking news the day before.

There's another picture of Lee and Tony on the front of this one, but this is a picture which was taken by Amy at a party a few days after they finished closing the demon gate. There's nothing explicit - they aren't even holding hands this time - but the two of them are smiling and they look like a happy couple.

The headline reads: "Darkest Night Star Finds Love."

There's an excerpt from the article under the headline and Tony scans it quickly. There's a panicked quality to the writing which screams of CB's intimidating involvement. Tony still can't formulate a response, but he sits up anyway.

"I don't want to stop this just because the world knows," Lee says softly, looking down at his feet.

Tony is staring at him, mouth agape. This is Lee Nicholas, heartthrob of straight to syndication vampire television, and he really wants to be with Tony. He really wants to be with Tony. Tony still can't figure out what to say.

"But..." Lee says, casting a quick glace up at Tony, he's acting like a nervous teenager. Tony was pretty sure that that was his job. "If you don't want to, then... I mean, being in the public eye sucks... and I understand..."

"Yes," Tony says reaching out a hand to Lee's knee. He's not sure if there was actually a question in there, but the answer is `yes' anyway.

"W-what?" Lee stutters to a halt, looking hopefully at Tony.

Tony clears his throat and tries to find the right words. Lee looks terrified, and Tony has never wanted to be a writer, so he does the first thing which comes to mind, grabs Lee and brings him in for a kiss.

They're both smiling into each other when they come up for air, foreheads touching. Tony feels like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

"Ah-hem," Henry clears his throat loudly and unnecessarily from the hallway to his study and bedroom. "The sun's coming up," he says once he has their embarrassed attention. "So I'm done for the night, would you make sure you lock up when you leave?"

Tony blushes and nods at Henry, "Of course," he says. "Have a good day, Henry. Thanks."

Henry rolls his eyes and disappears back into his bedroom.

Tony turns back at Lee, who is looking kind of sheepish, as if his presence was keeping Henry up.

Tony smiles broadly at him, jumps to his feet and holds out his hand. "Let's go hold hands in public," he proclaims, and Lee smiles back at him, taking his hand and allowing himself to be pulled onto his feet and out the front door.


End file.
